Toyota’s chief test driver, Hiromu Naruse, has been killed in a head-on collision near the Nurburgring today Toyota has confirmed.
Naruse, 67, was killed in an accident close to Toyota’s workshop near the circuit. The Lexus LFA Nurburgring Edition in which he was travelling collided head on with a BMW.
The BMW involved in the crash was also driven by a test driver. Both the BMW driver and his passenger were seriously injured.
Naruse joined Toyota in 1963 in the Vehicle Evaluation and Engineering Division, and had been involved with Toyota Motorsports since 1970.
He influenced development of all the sporty mass-production vehicles from the Toyota 2000GT to the MR-S, and is said to have logged more miles at the Nurburgring than any other Japanese person.
Naruse was also company CEO Akio Toyoda's personal on-track driver.
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Re: Toyota's chief tester killed
I have only just seen this thread so I cannot comment on any specifics regarding what has been removed but from what I have read on here and on Steve Sutcliffes blog I find myself leaning towards Disco.Stu's opinion as being the I agree with.
It is very sad news to here that anyone has died whether you know them personally or not, my thoughts go out to Hiromu Naruse's family.
Re: Toyota's chief tester killed
disco.stu - Another excellent post on the subject and sums up my thoughts on the matter perfectly.
With the over moderation on the website, as well as blogs like Steve Sutcliffes and the declining standards of the magazine I'm going to have to consider carefully whether I want to continue to subscribe to the magazine.
Autocar ain't what it used to be.
Re: Toyota's chief tester killed
Blimey. When Jim Holder replied to Steve Sutcliffe's blog of yesterday, saying '...the thread attached to the news story has now been tidied up', he wasn't wrong.
Jim, you've perfected the art of understatement. I see a glittering future in politics if ever you fancy a change of direction...